Russian Rose Bread Russian Braid Caucasian Breadcinnamon Wreath Baking For World Bread Day With The Babes Recipes

RUSSIAN ROSE BREAD/ RUSSIAN BRAID/ CAUCASIAN BREAD/CINNAMON WREATH - BAKING FOR WORLD BREAD DAY WITH THE BABES!

Steps:

• You will need a 10u201d spring form cake tin and a baking sheet for baking this bread. Remove the bottom of the pan, grease the sides well and keep it aside. Also grease the baking sheet. You may use whatever tin you have, but a spring form makes it easier to shape this bread.
• You may knead this bread by hand but I used the food processor. Put all the ingredients, except the vinegar and the water into the processor bowl and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add the vinegar to the water and add this to the processor bowl and knead till you have an elastic dough which is not sticky. If you need to, add a little water or flour to achieve this consistency of dough.
• Shape the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Turn the dough around till well coated with oil, cover and let the dough rise to almost double (80%). This should take about 45 minutes to an hour.
• Lightly flour your working surface and place the dough on it. Gently flatten it out with your palms and roll out into as large a rectangle and as thin as you can, but not till its translucent. I rolled mine out to about 12u201d by 24u201d.
• Brush the softened butter all over the surface of the rectangle, leaving 1/4" space at the edge. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon powder and sprinkle this uniformly, over the butter. Slowly, tightly and very gently roll the dough into a roulade (pinwheel ), from the longer side. You will now have a very long roulade.
• Take a sharp chef's knife (not a serrated knife) and cut (not saw) the roulade along its length into 2 halves, trying to keep the knife in the middle so you end up with two equal parts (if you can cut down from the seam you will have a neater wreath).
• Try to slowly turn the two halves facing outwards so the layers show up. Place the two halves crossing each other (open roulade layers facing up) to create and X shape. Gently pick up the two ends of the bottom half, and continue to cross them to form a rope. Pinch the ends together, and repeat with the other two ends.
• You now have a two strand rope shape. If for some reason some of the open roulade layers are pointing down or sideways, carefully turn them so they are facing up. Gently pinch the ends to seal.
• If your u201cropeu201d has a thinner end, start with that. Now gently slide your baking sheet under about half your rope of dough. Keeping the thinner end for the centre of your wreath, slowly and very gently, roll the braid sideways (horizontally) into a circle without lifting your hands from the table. You should keep those open roulade layers facing up. Neatly tuck the end of the u201cropeu201d under the wreath.
• Place the spring form over the wreath on the baking sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until the braid is three quarters the way up the spring form. This may take from 20 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle some sugar bits on the top, if you choose.
• Bake the wreath at 200C (400F) for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 180C (350F). Bake the wreath for another 30 to 40 minutes till brown and done. Cool the bread on a wire rack.
• Slice and serve with coffee, tea or milk. This wreath should serve 6 to 8.